Footon-Servetto gives more youth a chance

The average age at Spanish ProTour team Footon-Servetto has got lower still as it announced the signing more riders, mostly from the under-23 ranks. The new riders have been named as: Spaniards Pedro Merino (from the team’s development squad, Trasmiera-Fuji) and Enrique Mata (Burgos Monumental), British rider Tom Faiers (Camargo-elite2) and Austrians Markus Eibegger and Matthias Brändle (both from ELK Haus).

Merino is the current Spanish national under-23 champion, while Mata briefly rode for the team in 2006 when it was Saunier Duval-Prodir and since then has spent 3 years racing for Continental level Spanish teams. Of the two Austrian riders, 26-year-old Eibegger is the more successful to date as the national champion, both on the road and in mountainbiking. British rider Tom Faiers is virtually unknown in his home country, having spent virtually all of his racing career in the Spanish amateur scene.

As well as the five young riders, Footon-Servetto also announced the signing of Italian Giampaolo Cheula from outgoing team Barloworld-Bianchi. At 30 years old, Cheula will be the oldest member of the new look team as it bids to shed the negative image it acquired in its previous incarnations as Saunier Duval and Fuji-Servetto.